“Skechers second quarter results set a new quarterly sales record of 2.01 billion US dollars. This achievement continues to reflect the global demand for our comfort technology products, evidenced by double- or triple-digit sales growth in most markets. We saw increases of 20% in APAC, including 19% in China and 27% in India, as well as 16% in EMEA, including 29% in Germany and 13% in the UK. Our strong gross margin of 52.7% was primarily driven by a higher proportion of Direct-to-Consumer sales, which grew 29%. We were able to deliver our product more effectively and improve our inventory levels, which enabled robust sales across our comfortable, innovative, stylish and high-quality collections”, commented David Weinberg, Chief Operating Officer of Skechers.

Second Quarter Results

In the second quarter of the current fiscal year, the company's sales grew by 7.7% to 2.01 billion US dollars, on a comparable basis to the same period of the previous year, as a result of a 17.9% increase internationally and a 4.6% decline at home.

Skechers' direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel recorded a strong performance in the second quarter of 2023, with sales amounting to 939.5 million US dollars, up by 29.1% in value from a similar period last year; the average selling price was up by 4.4%. In the America region, DTC sales increased by 28.2%, in the APAC region by 25.1%  and in the EMEA by 47.2%, as compared to the second quarter of 2022.

Meanwhile, the footwear company's wholesale sales decreased by 5.9% in value in this very same quarter, totalling 1.07 billion US dollars, as compared to a similar period of the prior year; the average selling price rose by 8.0%. This result was mainly due to a decline of 18.7% in the America region, which was partially offset by an increase of 14.3% and 7.4% in the APAC and EMEA regions, respectively.

In the three months to the 30^th of June, Skechers saw its gross margin widen by 460 basis points to 52.7% from the same period of 2022, “primarily due to a higher proportion of Direct-to-Consumer sales and higher average selling prices”.

The company also reported net earnings of 152.8 million US dollars and diluted earnings per share of 0.98 US dollars in the second quarter of 2023, on a comparable basis to net earnings of 90.4 million US dollars and diluted earnings per share of 0.58 US dollars recorded in the same period of the previous year.

Six Months Highlights

In the first semester of the current fiscal year, Skechers' sales amounted to 4.01 billion US dollars, up by 8.9%, as compared to the first half of 2022, reflecting a 19.5% increase in international sales and a 4.7% decrease domestically. In addition, DTC sales rose by 27.1% in this period, while wholesale sales declined by 1.0%, year-over-year.

The company's net earnings totalled 313.2 million US dollars and diluted earnings per share were 2.00 US dollars in the six months to the 30^th of June, on a comparable basis to the net earnings of 211.6 million US dollars and diluted earnings per share of 1.35 US dollars reported in last year's same period.

Outlook

For the third quarter of 2023, Skechers is expecting to achieve sales between 1.95 billion US dollars to 2.0 billion US dollars and diluted earnings per share in the range of 0.70 US dollars and 0.75 US dollars. Furthermore, it anticipates full year sales between 7.95 billion US dollars to 8.1 billion US dollars and diluted earnings per share from 3.25 US dollars to 3.40 US dollars.